applications

where can agienic's technology be applied?

The novel materials of Agienic may be incorporated into bulk polymers, coatings of numerous types (including powder coatings and coatings applied from liquid media), lotions, creams and shampoos.

Using the proprietary technology of Agienic, it is possible to produce what heretofore has been considered a dream – viz., materials and products with self-disinfecting surfaces.

Antimicrobial (AM) materials have been utilized in a variety of applications. Many of the earlier applications were in food preservation and control of microbes for pharmaceutical purposes. Such materials have been also used as additives for their function as preservatives in plastics and textiles to protect the properties (mechanical, chemical, electrical, etc.) or protect their appearance against bacterial/fungal attack.

Active protection

More recently, their use has extended to provide active protection by applying them as coatings or by incorporating them in bulk products so that they maintain a sanitary/hygienic state. This has vast potential in a variety of consumer, medical and industrial. Such materials help both in controlling the spread of infectious diseases and/or controlling the odor caused by bacteria.

The active protection of products has gained great momentum in the last decade. Part of this has been in response to hospital acquired infections and development of human resistance against many conventional antibiotics; the increased need for wound protection; an increased awareness of the desirability of providing protection against the outbreak of infectious diseases (such as anthrax, SARS, drug-resistant microbes, swine flu, bird flu, etc.); the desire for microbe-safe buildings, particularly the HVAC systems in such buildings; and the demand for superior hygiene and anti-odor products.

Petroleum industry

A predominant type of anaerobic bacteria found in oil wells typically reduce the sulfates to sulfides and are called sulfate reducing bacteria or SRB. These bacteria result in the production of hydrogen sulfide which is both a toxic gas and also corrodes ferrous alloys by formation of soft sulfides due to galvanic corrosion caused by the formation of metabolic products. In addition formation of bacterial slime reduces well output. Biocides are injected periodically into these wells to control bacterial populations. Agienic materials may be used both as a safer biocide substitute for injection into these wells or as an additive in coatings for various components.

These are all markets Agienic is targeting, with the ambition of quickly becoming the leading player in the global antimicrobial market.